The Man From London by Georges Simenon

Last week I borrowed three short books from the library and this is the last of them. Originally written in 1933 by Georges Simenon, who is also the author of the Maigret series, this book feels as though it could have been written yesterday. There is a certain gravitas to the writing style but the words flow freely and the plot draws the reader in right from the start.

Maloin works for the railways and it is his job to man the signal box at the port of Dieppe for the night shift. It's a job he is comfortable with and most nights are pretty much the same as passengers arrive from the ferry then make their way through customs the on to the train for Paris.

He has a wife and two teenage children but he's not much of a family man as he is quick to anger and his children have become wary of his sudden mood changes. A lot of things make him mad, and sometimes he can develop a bad mood for no reason at all, and on those sort of days he will have an attitude with everyone he meets.

One dark night Maloin is working in the glass cabin that sits up above the level of the station roof, and he notices a man come from the direction of the town to stand in the shadows just below the window. Maloin watches the man from above and then, just as the ferry is pulling into the port, someone on the back of it throws something off and the man on the dock catches it in such a smooth action that no-one else will have noticed.

The thrown object turns out to be a small suitcase, and Maloin wonders what they are trying to smuggle, and also why the man doesn't just turn and leave. Clearly he is waiting for his accomplice but when the second man appears there is a fight and the man from the boat falls into the harbour taking the suitcase with him.

Maloin knows the smugglers did not notice him in the signal box, so when the first man realises he cannot easily retrieve the suitcase from the dark water and walks away, Maloin has to make a choice. He can report everything he saw or he can try and get the case before the man comes back in the morning.

This could be the perfect crime, but Georges Simenon illustrates how one bad decision quickly leads to another, and a once respected railway worker can ruin his whole life for the sake of greed and a very bad temper.

Comments

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